Panzer Corps Grand Campaign '42 - '43 West

Panzer Corps
Grand Campaign 42  43 West is the latest $5 campaign download in
the Panzer Corps series. The earlier releases were either the earliest
years of World War 2 or were focused on the Eastern Front. The 42-43
West is the first campaign focusing on the Western Front. This game can be purchased either as a direct
download or as a disk copy for an additional fee. The game requires either Panzer Corps or Panzer Corps:
Afrika Korps to play. Like the other
campaign downloads, this is not a stand-alone game.

There
are similarities to the earlier campaign downloads. You take the role of a German Commander of a
combined arms force in WW2. If you win
(or sometimes just avoid defeat) you advance to the next scenario. Here your forces start out as a fire brigade
opposing landings on the French Coast against raiding British Commonwealth
forces. If you are successful, you will
fight multiple battles in Sicily and Italy.
Like earlier releases in the campaign series, regardless of your
military prowess the war will grind on and the German forces will continue their
retreat up the Italian Boot.

This
campaign has a striking departure from the earlier Panzer Corps Grand Campaigns.
In earlier campaigns the player had the option to import their entire
core force from earlier campaigns. If
the player had carefully built up a powerful and balanced core force, then the
familiar units were returned in the next iteration of the campaign. Players can become attached to favorite
units, especially those gifted with multiple heroes who had pulled out epic
victories in the past. But in 42-43 West the player can only import
eight core units (plus a handful of bonus units if won earlier) into their
Western force. The rest of your loyal
army stays on the Eastern Front and is lost to the commander. For example, I had thirty-six units in my
core force from earlier campaigns but could only import eight units (plus a
very small number of bonus units). The
nature and composition of my army was radically changed.

The
design decision to sharply limit the number of core units imported into this
campaign represents a sharp contrast with earlier releases in the GrandCampaign series. In the
early battles the player is managing a small fire brigade which is rushing
back and forth over the maps to confront British raids in France. Often the player in the early scenarios must
defend multiple static positions (such as ships, radar instillations, or
encampments) which are spaced widely apart.
This requires the Panzer General to have a highly mobile force capable
of engaging and defeating an enemy task force, and then racing a considerable
distance to defend a different set up of objectives. To be successful in the early scenarios
probably means importing only the most highly mobile units (armor, motorized
infantry, fighters and tactical bombers) while leaving behind less mobile units
such as artillery and anti-tank units.

The
design decision to allow only the most limited importation of core units
achieves a good game balance. Regardless
of the power of your 41 Grand Campaign
core force, your 42-43 West Forces
will not be overwhelming the enemy. This
design decision makes this Grand Campaign
much more challenging than the earlier releases.

Some
of the early fire brigade battles employ some interesting and challenging AI
programming. In one scenario there are
multiple, widely-spaced British landings over a very large coastline. Your forces are too small to guard every
objective (non-mobile radar instillations or camps) simultaneously. But your concentrated forces can beat any
single British combat group. The British
attacks come in waves. Some areas that
you are guarding never come under attack.
Other (widely spaced) objectives will get attacked and must be defended
before the radar instillation can be ground down and destroyed. I reloaded this scenario multiple times, both
from the beginning and part way through.
The AI did not use the same attack pattern and seemed to strike, at
least in part, where I had gaps in my defenses.
This forced me to engage in multiple task force attacks followed by a
swift reorientation of my forces to guard another portion of the map.

Players
winning the earlier French raid scenarios will be introduced to the mixed
blessing of large Italian military reinforcements. Most of the early Italian battles in Sicily
are fighting withdrawals. Your German
forces must attack and hold enough objectives long enough for your Italian
forces to successfully retreat off the map at specific locations. These are tricky operations to manage. You need the bulk of the Italian forces at
least initially to support your German attack and hold your flanks. But if you dont get your Italian units off
the map by the end of the scenario they do not accompany your core German
forces to the next battle. This
represents a lot of tension. The longer
you hold your Italian units in battle the easier it is to advance and hold
victory hexes. But if you wait too long
you cannot successfully retreat your Italian forces to fight another day.

There
is a second big change when you get to the Sicily operations. While fighting as a fire brigade in France
you will pick up some (generally) relatively weak German units. As the campaign progresses you go from a very
small core force to a substantial army of German and Italian units. The number of Italian units will dwarf your
German forces. Unit quality will vary
sharply. Your surviving imported core
German units will be very powerful. Some
of the Italian units are almost useless, while other units (especially the
artillery and a few infantry units) are quite useful. A few of the German units you picked up in
France are valuable, while others are fragile with little combat power.

Eventually,
your entire Italian force will desert you.
But you do get to choose a campaign path that allows you to destroy the
Italian turncoats. I chose that option
and got a lot of pleasure in seeing my former Italian allies get
destroyed. I especially enjoyed crushing
the weakest Italian armor units which I had nursed and guarded through multiple
retreats.

From
a technical standpoint the 42-43 West Grand
Campaign performed admirably. I had
a very fast download. My core units
imported smoothly. The game functioned
without a hiccup. Ive had similar
experiences with the other Panzer Corps
downloads and was gratified that this iteration performed equally well.

I
found this campaign to be much more challenging than earlier Grand Campaign releases. The designers managed to capture the spirit
of operating a small fire brigade strike force in France. They also managed a successful transition to
the Italian campaign. They have managed
to model defense, fighting withdrawals, and attacks within the same campaign
structure. Those playing this campaign
will be in for a challenge.

There
are a couple of things that I did not like about this release. First, the British raiders in France have way
too much armor. It is not historic (and
frankly silly) to have more British armor land in France than held by the
German defenders in 1942. It also seemed
like the Allies got armor technology in advance of their historical
appearance. The air defense capabilities
of allied units being transported by truck in 1942 and 1943 also seems absurdly
high. A deuce and a half truck carrying
an infantry unit did not have much ability to inflict damage on an attacking
fighter or tactical air unit in the early years of the Western Front.

But
if the player can withstand the shock of losing most of their core force when
starting 42-43 West they will find
an enjoyable and challenging campaign.
The designers ability to make an interesting fighting withdrawal is to
be commended. Despite my early
frustrations with this release, I ultimately found it to be the most
interesting Grand Campaign release in
the series. The major drawback Ive
found is the limited replay value of the Grand Campaign. But for the price of a Big Mac and Fries the
gamer can get quite a bit of gaming goodness if they enjoy the Panzer Corps experience.

About the Author

Avery
Abernethy is Professor of Marketing at Auburn University. He has played wargames for more than forty
years.